The Lancaster Farmer. 



Prof. S. S. EATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA.. MARCH. 1875. 



Vol. VII. Ho. 3. 



"FARMERS, WRITE FOR YOUR PAPER." 



We luivo V>efore iis a large doiibli' folio on 

 af;i"icultuie, called the Farmers'' Vnitm, puli- 

 lishert at Afiiiiicaiiolis, Minnesota, whieli lia.s 

 the al)ove caption as its chief motto. It i.s not 

 only a motto, Imt also an ailmonition, and to 

 show how far it is re;;arded l)y its jiatrons, we 

 have only to say that tliis number (Febrnary 

 loth) contains jij'tii-Jivc orif^inal contributions 

 from the same number of writers. Twelve at 

 least of these writers are ladies, and about half 

 a dozen are youths. Their contributions num- 

 ber from ten lines to a whole cohnnn or more, 

 and they an^ on all sorts of subjects connected 

 with agricultural, horticultural, domestic, sta- 

 tistical and social affairs, with a slight sprink- 

 ling of religious, scientilic and political. In- 

 deed, nearly the whole eight i>ages are taken up 

 with original matter, and the small remainder 

 with literary and miscellaneous selections and 

 advertisements. 



Minneapolis and its surroundings, in com- 

 parison with Lancaster city and county, is a 

 new settlement, far rinioved from the great 

 centres of eastern wealth and intelligence, and 

 yet no jom-nal has come under our obser- 

 vation that is patronized l)y .so many contii- 

 Ijutors. It is true, that many of these contri- 

 butions are of a common place or local char- 

 acter, and a few of them are pnrely di.scus- 

 sional, but the greater number are i)ractical, 

 and would be suitable to any locality in the 

 same degree of latitude. We have said that at 

 least twelve of these writers were ladies, but 

 from the fact that many of them only signed 

 their initials, or the initialsof their tirst name, 

 we could not alw.ays determine the sex of the 

 writers by the names alone, nor could it be 

 always determined l)y the context. 



This leads us to make a remark here that we 

 think we have made elsewhere, namely, that 

 lady writers should adoi)t a signature or [vseu- 

 donym by which we might liww their sex from 

 the name alone. How can we tell whether J. 

 E. Jones means .Tane Elizabeth Jones, or Jede- 

 diali Eliphalet Jones V 



Now, there nuist V>e some reason for the lib- 

 eral literary support which these Minnesotians 

 extend to their local journal. And it is not 

 this journal alone, but all that are published in 

 the western states have a more liberal support 

 in this respect than tho.seof the east, andcs]rc- 

 ciallj" those in Pennsylvania. Without intend- 

 ing to prejudice the ca.se one w.ay or the other, 

 we would merely suggest that "the "Patrons 

 of Ilusb.andry" are numerous in that locality, 

 and, although it is not consiiicuou.sly apparent 

 that this paper is the authorized organ of that 

 as.sociation, still, all through its columns it 

 smacks strongly of the Grange. People, how- 

 ever, who write liberally for news))apers and 

 magazines are most Jikely readers of and sub- 

 scribers to tho.se iiublications, and if the Granges 

 are capable of producing such an effect upon 

 the Social and intellectual condition of the peo- 

 ple, they ought to be "looked into," for it 

 would seem that they are not only "Patrons 

 of Husbandry," but also patrons of literature. 



We know not whether the Grange imi)oses 

 obligations, or impresses instruction, involving 

 moral and intellectual culture, or whether it 

 is to the contrary, Ijut if it does, it is only in 

 harmony with those ideas of "compulsory edu- 

 cation" which now are engaging the attention 

 of local legislation in many [lartsof our country. 

 If there is no such obligation within the order, 

 it cannot be denied that such a one impliedly 

 exists cndsick of it. When the Creator iilaced 

 man in the Garden of Eden he was solemnly 

 admonished to "drf.ss U and keep it,''' and this 

 involved both mental and physical labor. Had 

 he heeded this admonition, and subordinated 

 his sensual toliis spiritual principle, there would 

 not now be any need of such an organization 

 as a Grange. The "one talent" which was 



committed to the slothful servant was taken 

 from him— because he had "hidden it in a naji- 

 kin " — and given tojiini that had "ten." If 

 these cxaniiiles do not involve nioial and men- 

 tal culture, (hen it would be dillicult to impress 

 such a precept by any demonstraliou less em- 

 phatic than^he terrilic " thundering of .siuai." 



If, however, the facts above narrated are a 

 merely ordinary manifestation of the iieople's 

 love for literary exerci.ses, then it exhibits a 

 degree of social and intellectual culture that, is 

 a credit to any connuunily where such a state 

 of thingsexists,and cannot be too soon adopted 

 by older settlements. 



We can conceive no greater aid to llu- moral 

 and intellectual progress of our farming popu- 

 lation than the devotion of a small portion <if 

 their time to the cultivation of their minds. 

 This ought to be done, without leaving their 

 physical labors undone. Of what account are 

 hou.ses, and barns, and lands alone, in tliat hour 

 when — "This night thy .soul shall be recpiired 

 of thee — " is sounded in delimiuent ears V 

 ^^ Farmers, write for your paper.''' 



SPARROWS— FINCHES. 



There are about one hundred species of 

 birds belonging to the family FrinyiUidiv, or 

 Finches, that are natives to the territory of 

 the United States, descrii)tions of which have 

 been imblished in books and ixipcrs on Orni- 

 tholtigij. The reader will note that we have 

 said one hundred species. Scattered over our 

 broad land, each of these species may be 

 counted by thousands, if not liy tens of thou- 

 sands, and perhaps hundreds of tliou.sands, 

 or millions. About forty of tliese species are 

 either natives to Lancaster county or make 

 short sojourns here on their passage farther 

 north — at least that is the nr.mber that have 

 been captured or observed within tln^ limits 

 of the county. Many of the.se species nest, 

 lay their eggs and raise from one to two 

 broods of yoimg during the summer season. 

 These Ijirds are known under tlu' common 

 names of Sparrows, Finches, Buntings, i^c, 

 and occupy a very important iiosition in the 

 economy of nature. Every female of these 

 species rears its broods f)f from four to six 

 individuals, on worms and the softer ?nrrip of 

 insects— such as grul)S, slugs, maggots, cater- 

 pillars, &c., and therefore must exercise an 

 inmien.se intluence upon the growing crojis of 

 the entire country. No matter what the adult 

 birds may feed on, they bring up their little 

 families entirely on insect food, and they 

 commence gathering early in the spring, long 

 before any fruits or seeds have matured. 

 Later in the sea.son the adult birds will feed 

 njion berries, seeds and grain, but the damage 

 they do is incomimral ily small when contrasted 

 with the good they do in the early iiart of the 

 season. IJuffon longago estimated that a single 

 family of sparrows will consume about four 

 thousand insect hirrrr ina week,andsub.sefiiii'nt 

 writers have made the estimate rather higher 

 than lower. The damage that four thou.sand 

 htrra' a week inightdoto the vegetation within 

 the limit of a singli' family of si)Mrrows, if said j 

 insects were permitted to mature and deposit 

 their eggs, is almost incidculable. We are 

 now alluding to sparrows or finches, exclu- 

 sively. There are hundreds of other birds 

 that feed entirely on small insects, in.sccts' 

 eggs and maggots, throughout the whole 

 Season, but their scavenging labors can only 

 be illustrated in a seiiarate paper; we are now 

 siteaking of the Fringillians asafamilv alone. 

 Within the last three years the "English 

 Sparrow," {Passer do-ine.^tica) has lieen intro- 

 duced into America, and is increasing rapidly. 



It is a bold, impudent and greedy bird, 

 and before many years will have completely 

 superseded and displaced our most familiar and 



domestic species (Spizella socialis). < Umplaints 

 are made in some (piarters that tliese biids are 

 aii])roprialiug the "small fruits," but these 

 croakers never rellect that if it were not for 

 these birds, and others of their family, in the 

 early part of the season, they might have no 

 fruit to be eaten by birds or any other beings. 



These birds, like our native allied species, 

 are always on the verge of domestic civili/Ji- 

 tion, and wherever man erects for himself 

 a domicile in the wilderness, it will not 1h) 

 long before they hnd it. It is .said that this 

 peculiaritj- is not so much attributable to tlieir 

 love for man (for with all their familiarity 

 they are still dislrustful) as it is to their self- 

 preservative |)rudenie. Near human society 

 they are more protected against their feathered 

 and other animal enemies, find a more abun- 

 dant supply of food, and have safer nesting 

 facilities. Hence, their very boldness is a 

 characteristic that enhances their value, and 

 stamps them as superior to birds of more 

 timid and retired haliits. We want a class of 

 feathered friends that will go where the insect.s 

 are, and as civilization and domestic culture 

 increases the quantity and ([ualilyof food that 

 insects most delight to fee<l on, thire also the 

 antidote shoulil most abound, and this will 

 follow, if we allow nature's economies to pre- 

 vail. 



Lancaster county is fast becoming popula- 

 ted with these English sjiarrows, and up to 

 the first of January 1.^75, we noticed many of 

 them in the city — the strei ts were full of them 

 and thej' almost approached to the doors of 

 Ijouses, in search of those tiny moi-sels that 

 only a sjiarrow can .see, and which are of no 

 valiie at all to the human family. Since the 

 first of January they are not so common, 

 and no doubt iiiany of them have retired a 

 little farther soiitliward. There is jirecious 

 little for them to feed upon when the ground 

 is covered with snow. A few seeds and win- 

 ter berries is all these little feathered friends 

 can find to break their winter fasts, and surely 

 we can atlord them these. But when sjiring 

 returns these, and the whole local trilx-, will lie 

 here again to begin their mission of good. 

 Taking them for all in all, we cannot witlihold 

 our testimony and our sympathies in behalf 

 of the sparrows, either foreign or native, and 

 we hope others may be intluenced in like 

 manner. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL. 



Late in the Fall of 1S74 (sometime in Nov.) 

 we observed on the inside of the door of our 

 water-clo.set the naked chrvs;ilid of a I'ierlf 

 rapn\ or "White cabbage tJutterfiy." Tlicre 

 it has hung all this blessed winter, and up to 

 the present writinir (March Idth) througli all 

 kinds of weather, from an intense freezi: to a 

 gentle thaw, wi bout aiiparent injury. The 

 closet is a new one, built of new pine boards, 

 and iiainted without and within; a naked, 

 hard painted surface, and not a very favorable 

 place, aiiparently, for an insect of any kind to 

 make its winter (piarters. The cold has been 

 protracted and severe, and often the whole of 

 the inside of the closet was covered with a 

 dense and glittering hoar frost, and wherever 

 a nail head or a clinched jioint lay undir the 

 coat of paint, the frost projected (mt in a 

 chrystalized relief, farther and more densely 

 tlian the surrounding surface. Formorethan 

 three months we have daily had this little 

 chrysalid before our eyes, and have watched 

 it with interest, and here is the singular ob- 

 servation we have made. N^1 matter how 

 intense this cold may have lie^n (on one occar 

 sion it was six degrees below zero, once two, 

 several times at zero, and at other times more 

 or less above) and no matter how dense and 

 glittering the frost may have been elsewhere, 



